D’Angelo’s ‘Black Messiah’ plays to message of rising up

D’Angelo and The Vanguard
“Black Messiah”
(RCA Records)

The phrase “long-awaited album” gets tossed around quite a bit. But “Black Messiah,” D’Angelo’s follow-up to 2000’s “Voodoo,” comes after a 14-year wait.

And the album arrives as demonstrators across the nation demand change after the recent slayings of unarmed black men by police in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York.

The album title is about people rising up, D’Angelo said, and his songs -- featuring the singer’s band, The Vanguards -- plays to that message. “All we wanted was a chance to talk / ’Stead we only got outlined in chalk,” D’Angelo sings on the politically charged “The Charade,” coproduced by longtime collaborator and champion Questlove.

D’Angelo seems intent on his music being felt first, and analyzed second. “Really Love,” for instance, opens with a delicate mix of horns and strings, sweeping listeners away for two minutes before D’Angelo sings.

The beauty of D’Angelo’s return: He’s come back as fantastic as fans remember. (AP)


Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Special’ is not that special

Mark Ronson
“Uptown Special”
(RCA)

Mark Ronson’s new album, “Uptown Special,” opens with such promising notes -- Stevie Wonder’s harmonica, playing so soulful and slow that the listener can’t help but settle in, ready and waiting for what’s sure to be an exhilarating musical story.

Sadly, you’ll be kept waiting. That’s not to say there isn’t some good music on Ronson’s fourth effort, because there is. But “Uptown Special” feels chaotic, moving from sound to sound in a way that feels haphazard.

The songs don’t hit the listener in a connected way, but as if Ronson just put together a bunch of tracks that sounded cool to him. That’s fine, but with a little more curation, the music might have been transcendent.

There are undoubtedly songs the listener will want to hear again. The lead single, “Uptown Funk” with Bruno Mars, has taken over the charts with its catchy beat that almost dares you to stay still. “I Can’t Lose” is another one that gets your toes tapping, and “Leaving Los Feliz” has a sweet sway to it. (AP)


Album celebrates music of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’

Various artists
“Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’”
(Nonesuch)

Fans of the Coen brothers’ amused, affectionate portrait of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene -- and of banjo-playing, guitar-plucking Americana in general -- will relish this recording of a 2013 New York concert celebrating the music of the movie “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

Produced by the Coens and their musical collaborator T Bone Burnett, the show brought together ’60s folk veterans with younger musicians who have reworked the rich seams of 20th-century American folk, bluegrass, country and blues. Gillian Welch, the Avett Brothers, Conor Oberst, the Punch Brothers and Lake Street Dive all perform, along with stars of the film including Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, and rockers Elvis Costello and Jack White.

The result is a highly enjoyable mixed bag. A few of the 34 tracks on this two-disc set evoke the strait-laced brand of folk the Coens’ sent up (Joan Baez delivers the least raunchy “House of the Rising Sun” imaginable), but overall this is a feast of relaxed artistry and low-key emotion. (AP)